Verizon Enterprise Solutions has released its 12th annual Data Breach Investigations Report, drawing insights from a sample of 41,686 security incidents from the anonymised data of 73 contributors.

The report highlights a significant increase in the successful and attempted targeting of C-level executives as a means of gaining access to organisations. Possible explanations for this finding cite the limited time executives have for decision-making, and the lack of clarity and education the c-suite holds over possible threats.

Here’s a further taster of the key findings in the report this year:

The overwhelming motivation behind attacks was financial (71 per cent), with espionage trailing a long way behind (25 per cent).